Proverbs 31:8,9

Day 2 in shall I say, "rural" Guatemala. We drove about 90 minutes away to the CI student center in Poptun. The Spanish name of project escapes me, but the English name is "Drops of Love"...and boy, does the name ever fit.
We met with the gracious staff of our church partner and the adjoining student center. Shortly after that we broke up into groups and visited families. We spent about and hour with the Fernandez's. The mother (Anna) lives there with her husband, 3 children, the grandmother & her brother...in 1 house. There are no words to appropriately describe the depravity we witnessed today (or yesterday for that matter). Though they had more animals & feral pets than Lu's family, they still were barely getting by. These people have almost no material possessions, yet the gratitude they expressed for the work that CI is doing was astonishing. Anna's 3 children & Mauricio (her brother) are all sponsored...and all Christians. It was evident that their lives are filled with the love of Jesus Christ despite their circumstances...this was no orchestrated event. They asked us to pray for them going forward, and told us that they pray God's blessing on us for our presence. Compassion International and their sponsors heard the voice of this family (and so many others) through our church partner and put their faith into action to register/sponsor them. "...I will show you my faith by what I do." James 2:18b
The title of this blog entry is Proverbs 31:8,9. Many Christians know this chapter of the Word is famous for the description of a woman of great faith & noble character. What many do not give much credence to is the earlier section dealing with the "sayings of King Lemuel" which "his mother taught him". I will not go into great detail, but suffice it to say that a wise ruler listened to his mother and had this wisdom noted in what would be recorded in this book. "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up & judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Wes Stafford, the Grand Pubah (LOL) of CI mentioned this verse in a tweet today and it struck me in the gut. We are called to do this...wise counsel from an elder. CI is doing this & we as sponsors, workers, advocates, Mr. Stafford, etc. is doing this. What a blessing to know firsthand that we are making a difference...if nothing else but at least attempting to instill hope. It was especially evident as we ministered to the nearly 180 students that came to the CI project center today. The voices of these kids won't be heard without someone listening for them...
Sorry for the disjointed segments, but I am exhausted by the time I write these. Tomorrow we serve by painting a room in the student center while engaging the staff/kids & then on to the Mayan Ruins.
***Visit http://www.JustLoveCoffee.com/TeamCrawford to help us in our adoption quest & enjoy some great coffee in the process.*** Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry